Amusement device



Aug. 14, 1934. A. WALTON AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed May 20, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR A HTHUR WALTON WWW ATTOR EY Aug. 14, 1934. A. WALTON AMUSEMENT DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed May 20, 1950 INVENTOR ARTHUR WALTON.

y y fiW ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 14, 1934 UNITED STATES AMUSEMENT DEVICE Arthur Walton, Salt Lake City, Utah Application May 20, 1930, Serial No. 453,953

6 Claims.

This invention relates to an amusement device 7 for resorts, parks, and the like, and has among its objects to provide a novel game in which luck and skill are both involved, with electrical means 5 to register the scores made.

'20 may be played by one person for amusement solely.

A number of booths or alleys 6 may be disposed side by side, with partitions 7 between each two thereof, with a barrier or railing 8 between the players and the alleys. Targets 9 of canvas or other materials which will not cause the balls to rebound when the balls strike said targets are placed at the rear portions of the alleys, with openings 10, 11, and 12 therein, of diiferent sizes,

I 30 the smaller the opening the larger the score made by batting a ball therethrough. Each player has a bat shaped like a tennis racket, wherewith to strike the balls 13 when they are thrown along the dotted path 14.

35 The ball projecting mechanism is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a frame 15 which carries bearings 16 for a shaft 17. The arm 18 is fixed to shaft 17, and carries a hammer 19 at its free end; a laterally extending pin 20 projects from Y 40 the said arm. A second shaft 21 is supported by said frame, and on said shaft 21 is an involute cam 22 disposed to contact pin 20.

' Shaft 23 carries catapult 24, which has arms 25 and 26 of unequal length, the shorter one, 25, being disposed to be struck by hammer l9, and the longer one, 26, being formed at its free end to receive balls 13 from chute 27. The member 28, with yoke 29 at one end and stop 30 at the other, R is also mounted on shaft 23. The said yoke embraces cam 31 on shaft 21. Shaft 21 may be extended through the mechanisms of all the alleys, to drive them synchronously.

As shaft 21 is rotated, hammer 19 is elevated by the contact of pin 20 with cam 22, until said pin reaches the radial face 32 of cam 22, when said hammer drops, strikes arm 25 of catapult 24, and throws a ball 13 through aperture 33, along the path 14; while the ball is in the air the player endeavors to strike said ball and knock it through one of the openings in the target 9. The rotation of shaft 21 causes yoke 29 to be moved by cam 31 in such manner that stop 30 is depressed and a ball is permitted to pass said stop, going down the sloping face 34 thereof to position on arm 26. The end, and part of the side of chute 27 are indicated by dotted lines 35. Varying the position of the fulcrum of catapult 24 will change the path of the ejected balls, so they can be thrown more or less toward the player, as desired.

When a ball is driven through one of the openings 10, 11, or 12, it passes into an enclosed passage defined by tube 36. Plates 37, one for each size of opening in the target, extend into said tube, to be contacted by a ball as it passes therethrough. Said plates are pivoted for vertical swing, and each one thereof is connected to a cam 38 which is disposed to swing an arm 39 which is pivoted at the end 40 and carries a contact point 41 at the other end; as a ball 13 moves a p1ate'37 down, the spring 42 causes arm 39 to follow along cam 38 and close a circuit through electromagnet 43 by touching points 41 and 44, the wire 45 being connected to line wire 46 and arm 39, and wire 4'? connecting point 44 and said electromagnet, which last is connected to line wire 48 by wire 49.

A wheel 50 is mounted upon shaft 51, to turn therewith; from the periphery of said wheel pins 52 project, said pins being arranged in two rows, the pins in one row being staggered with respect to those in the other row. An iron lever 53 is pivotally mounted with one end near the core 54 of magnet 43 and the other end disposed to engage the pins 52. A contractile spring 55 is connected to lever 53 to hold said lever away from said core 54. The position of lever 53 is normally as shown in Fig. 4, but when magnet 43 is energized and the adjacent end of said lever is drawn toward said magnet, said lever is disengaged from the pin in the one row and moved to 100 engage a pin in the other row; as soon as the lever 53 is so moved, wheel 50 is caused to rotate by spring '75 which is under tension and is wound on drum 56, fixed on shaft 51. Lever 53 thus engages a pin 52 in the other row and stops wheel 105 50; spring 55 then draws lever 53 over again so it will engage a pin in the first row; the use of the two rows of pins insures against excessive rotation of wheel 50. The movement of wheel 50 to the extent indicated advances by one the num- 110 bar shown on the score register disk 57, the score total being shown through an aperture 58 in the housing 59 of said disk, or said aperture may be in a screen 60 in front of said disk. To add tension to spring '75 it is only necessary to pull on cord 61, which is wound on drum 62 on shaft 51 in the opposite sense to that in which spring '75 is wound on its drum. A V-shaped member 63, with its apex directed downwardly, permits pins 52 to move lever 53 to pass said pins when spring '75 is being rewound.

Pin 64, which projects from a face of wheel 50 engages a spring contact member 65, and closes: the circuit between wires 46 and 48, to keep an electric globe lighted when the maximum score on the disk 57 has been made, and thus-indicate.-

the winner of the competition. The devices will then all be reset at the beginning, by the attendant, which may be done by having all. the cords 61 attached to a common lever or other suitable means.

An inclined runway 66 leads fromtarget 9 and the lower end of tube 36 to chute 27, so that all balls are returned to said chuteto'be in position to be thrown out again.

Operation The player stands in front of the alley, adjacent barrier 8. The shaft 21 is set in rotation by means of a motor of any suitable kind, and this rotates cam 22, which lifts hammer l9, and when pin 20 reaches face 32 of said cam the hammer drops and strikes catapult 24, whereby ball 13 is thrown into the air, toward the player, who strikes the ball with the bat and knocks said ball toward target 9; if the ball merely strikes said target it drops to runway 66 and is returned to chute 2'7. When a ball passes through one of the openings. 12 it falls through tube 36, striking the three plates 37, in succession, and registering three scores; if said ball goes through an opening 11 it registers two scores, and if through 10 it registers but one.

When the ball contacts a plate 37, cam 38 is rotated so that spring 42 can bring points 4]. and 44 together and close the circuit through magnet 43, which draws lever 53 over, releasing said lever from the pin with which it is engaged and engaging it with a pin in the other row, but spring 55 draws said lever back again, and permits the wheel 50 to complete the movement necessary to register an additional score. When the maximum score is registered, pin 64 closes the circuit through spring. contact 65 and a light shows that that player is the winner. Cord 61 is then pulled to reset the register at zero, and to rewind spring '75 on its drum 56.

It is desirable, in some cases, to offset the tube 36 just above the plates 3'7, that is, form an offset above each of said plates, to slow down the ball, to give the disk 57 opportunity to rotate to register the preceding score; if. said diskand wheel 50 are of any considerable weight this will be necessary, toallow time to overcome the inertia of these parts of the mechanism otherwise the ball will drop through all the distance, striking each of the plates, but registering only one score.

I claim:

1. In an amusement device, means to project a ball to be struck by a player, comprising a member pivoted intermediate its ends, one end thereof being adapted to receive a ball to be projected, an arm pivoted at one end and provided with a hammer at the other end, a pin projecting laterally from said arm, said hammer being disposed to strike an end of. said pivoted member, and an involute cam with. a radial face disposed to contact said pin and raise said hammer and let it fall to strike said pivoted member when said pin reaches said radial face.

2.. In an amusement device, means to project a ball tob'e struck by a player, comprising a member pivoted intermediate its ends, one end thereof being adapted to receive a ball to be projected, an armpivotedat one end and provided at its other end with a. hammer disposed to strike an end of said pivoted member, a rotatable involute cam with. a radial face disposed ad acentv said arm, a pin projecting from said arm to contact said cam, a shaft on which said cam is mounted, a target disposed in the path of balls struck by a player, an inclined runway from said target, a chute connected at one end to said runway and havingits other end adjacent the ball receiving end; of said pivoted member, a lever pivoted between its ends having a stop at one end disposed in said chute and a yoke at its other end, and a second cam on said shaft, operatively engaging said yoke.

3. In an amusement device, the combination of a catapult to vertically project a ball to be struck by a player; means to pivot said catapult; means to deliver a ball horizontally onto one. end of said catapult; means to raise a weight over the free end of said catapult and drop said weight thereon to throw the ball vertically into striking range of the player.

4. In an amusement device, means to project a ball vertically to be struck by a player, comprising a pivoted member adapted to receive a ball on one end thereof, an arm pivoted at one end and provided with a hammer at the other; an involute cam with a radial face disposed to raise. said arm and drop said hammer on the free end of said pivoted member.

5. In an amusement device of the class described, the combination of a pivoted member; a chute near one end thereof to deliver a ball thereonto; a hammer pivoted near the other end of said member; and means including a rotating involute cam to raise said hammer and drop it onto the free end of said pivoted member to catapult the ball vertically in front of a player.

6. In an amusement device, the combination of a target having openings therein of different size; a runway to return the ball from said target; and a catapult to project a ball vertically in front of the player, comprising a pivoted member adapted to receive the ball from the runway onto one end thereof, an arm pivoted at one end and provided with a hamer' at the other; an involute cam with a radial face disposed to raise the arm and drop the hammer on the free end of the pivoted lever,

ARTHUR WALTON. 

